Justice Dept. sides with Brunner on registrations

Friday

Oct 31, 2008 at 12:01 AMOct 31, 2008 at 12:14 PM

The U.S. Department of Justice is not expected to intervene in a dispute about verifying new voter registrations in Ohio before Tuesday's election, apparently rejecting Republican entreaties to it and President Bush.

The U.S. Department of Justice is not expected to intervene in a dispute about verifying new voter registrations in Ohio before Tuesday's election, apparently rejecting Republican entreaties to it and President Bush.

"That is our clear understanding," Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said at a Statehouse news conference yesterday to discuss preparations for the election.

Justice Department spokeswoman Jamie Hais said, "The Civil Rights Division is pleased with Secretary Brunner's cooperation and will continue to monitor the situation in Ohio and take whatever action is deemed appropriate to ensure that there is compliance with (federal election law)."

U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, had asked the Justice Department and Bush to seek an order forcing Brunner to release details about discrepancies in registrations, arguing it's necessary to weed out fraud.

At issue is what should be done with the mismatches that occur when the names and other information provided by newly registered voters are checked by computer against state motor-vehicle and federal Social Security records.

Brunner, a Democrat, initially said she could provide the mismatches but said yesterday that she "spoke too soon" and discovered it's not possible because the state's voter-registration database was not constructed properly.

In fact, she said, the database, which she inherited from Republican predecessor J. Kenneth Blackwell, was not designed to allow searches for mismatches and likely will be scrapped after the election and rebuilt.

"If we were to just sit back after the election and do nothing, I wouldn't blame (the Justice Department) for suing us to get it done, but that's not our intention," Brunner said. "Our intention all along has been to try to comply."

She said her office has been working with Justice Department lawyers, noting she issued a directive to counties last week related to removing duplicate registrations or dead people from the rolls.

Republicans, who sued Brunner unsuccessfully on the issue, accuse her of trying to conceal potential fraud by refusing to release details about the database mismatches -- which she has estimated to be 200,000 since Jan. 1.

"I'm disappointed by the Justice Department's refusal to stop Secretary Brunner's calculated effort to undermine the integrity of Ohio's election," Boehner said in a statement.

Fred Thompson, the former actor, U.S. senator and GOP presidential candidate, said while stumping for Sen. John McCain in southeastern Ohio yesterday that fraud is a major concern for the GOP nominee as he tries to close a gap in the polls.

"The whole world" is watching Ohio's presidential election, Thompson told a friendly audience at a restaurant in Lancaster. "If we get a fair vote, we are going to carry this state and we are going to win this election."

But Brunner and experts have noted that many of the mismatches are caused by typos or other legitimate discrepancies and not fraud.

She also said that there are concerns the database could become unstable by searching for mismatch details. Neither she nor her staff members could say what rebuilding the database will cost or what the state paid to build it in the first place.

Monty Lobb, the assistant secretary of state under Blackwell, said the database and matching system was working and that Brunner is trying to shift blame for any problems now.

Meanwhile, Brunner downplayed news that SysTest, the Colorado laboratory used to help test Ohio voting equipment as part of a $1.9 million study last fall, could have its accreditation suspended for "failure to create and validate test methods, improper documentation of testing and unqualified personnel."

"Whatever the difficulty is, SysTest has been very good to work with and I'm sure whatever the problem is, they'll remedy it quickly," Brunner said.